Privacy

Privacy notice

As data controllers, GPs have fair processing responsibilities under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This means ensuring that your personal confidential data (PCD) is handled in ways that are safe, transparent and what you would reasonably expect. Please find documents and links below.

Practice Privacy Notice

Milton Surgery has a legal duty to explain how we use any personal information we collect about you at the organisation. We collect records about your health and the treatment you receive in both electronic and paper format.

Why do we have to provide this privacy notice?

We are required to provide you with this privacy notice by law. It provides information about how we use the personal and healthcare information we collect, store and hold about you. If you have any questions about this privacy notice or are unclear about how we process or use your personal information or have any other issue regarding your personal and healthcare information, then please contact our Data Protection Officer. The Practice Data Protection Officer is part of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB. Any queries regarding Data Protection issues should be addressed to them. Email:  cpicb.dataprotectionofficer@nhs.net

The main things the law says we must tell you about what we do with your personal data are:

• We must let you know why we collect personal and healthcare information about you
• We must let you know how we use any personal and/or healthcare information we hold about you
• We need to inform you in respect of what we do with it
• We need to tell you about who we share it with or pass it on to and why
• We need to let you know how long we can keep it for

Using your information

We will use your information so that we can check and review the quality of care we provide. This helps us improve our services to you.

• We will share relevant information from your medical record with other health or social care staff or organisations when they provide you with care. For example, your GP will share information when they refer you to a specialist in a hospital or your GP will send details about your prescription to your chosen pharmacy.

• Healthcare staff working in A&E and out of hours care will also have access to your information. For example, it is important that staff who are treating you in an emergency know if you have any allergic reactions. This will involve the use of your Summary Care Record For more information see:  NHS Digital’s Summary Care Record or alternatively speak to this organisation.

You have the right to object to information being shared for your own care. Please speak to this organisation if you wish to object. You also have the right to have any mistakes or errors corrected.

Registering for NHS care

• All patients who receive NHS care are registered on a national database (NHS Spine). The Spine is held and maintained by NHS Digital, a national organisation which has legal responsibilities to collect NHS data.

• More information can be found at NHS Digital – Spine

Identifying patients who might be at risk of certain diseases

• Your medical records will be searched by a computer programme so that we can identify patients who might be at high risk from certain diseases such as heart disease or unplanned admissions to hospital. This means we can offer patients additional care or support as early as possible.

• This process will involve linking information from your GP record with information from other health or social care services you have used. Information which identifies you will only be seen by this organisation.

Safeguarding

• Sometimes we need to share information so that other people, including healthcare staff, children or others with safeguarding needs, are protected from risk of harm. These circumstances are rare and we do not need your consent or agreement to do this.

• For more information on local safeguarding policies click here Safeguarding | CPICS Website

Checking the quality of care – national clinical audits

• This organisation contributes to national clinical audits so that healthcare can be checked and reviewed. Information from medical records can help doctors and other healthcare workers to measure and check the quality of care that is provided to you.

• The results of the checks or audits can show where organisations are doing well and where they need to improve. These results are also used to recommend improvements to patient care.

• Data is sent to NHS Digital, a national body with legal responsibilities to collect data.

• The data will include information about you, such as your NHS Number and date of birth, and information about your health which is recorded in coded form – for example the code for diabetes or high blood pressure.

• We will only share your information for national clinical audits or checking purposes when the law allows.

• For more information about national clinical audits see the Healthcare Quality Improvements Partnership website or phone 020 7997 7370.

• You have the right to object to your identifiable information being shared for national clinical audits. Please contact the organisation if you wish to object.

Privacy Notice for Recording of Telephone Conversations

• Milton Surgery records both incoming and outgoing telephone calls. We record all calls to:
  • Review and improve services
  • Monitor and review quality of care
  • Train, develop and manage staff and medical trainees
  • Prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute allegations, complaints, claims and / or fraud relating to patients, other organisations or Milton Surgery staff.
  • Protect staff and patients

• We do this in the interests of offering a good service to our service users, patient safety, being a good employer and to protect public funds. If you object to this, you will need to end the call when you are told that calls may be recorded.
• Sometimes, calls may not be recorded if:
  • there’s a technical fault with the telephony system
  • a call handler is using equipment which does not let calls be recorded

How will call recordings be used?

• Quality monitoring: Written records only provide partial information. A call recording provides a more rounded view and allows us to better understand patient and staff experience and assess the processes applied. This can help us identify any improvement areas.
• Training and development: Listening to a sample number of calls allows managers to identify training needs. Call recordings may also be used as part of training for medical students, GP registrars and other clinical staff in training at the practice. This is part of their clinical skills development.
• Gaining a better understanding of our patients: Many calls are verbally resolved without the need to complete records. Listening to sample calls will help us better understand our patient and staff needs and gain a more informed view of organisations we signpost to.
• Complaints and disputes: Some calls are verbally resolved. Where information is entered onto an electronic system this is becomes the established record. In the event of a complaint or dispute, a call recording (if possible), may provide additional information to help us investigate any allegations.
• Employee safety and wellbeing: A recording may become a vital piece of evidence in the event of any threats being made to the organisation or an individual or in dealing with employment-related matters.

How your information is shared

• The law requires Milton surgery to share information from your medical records in certain circumstances. Call recordings may form part of your medical record. Information is shared so that the NHS or Public Health England can, for example:
  • Plan and manage services
  • Check that the care being provided is safe
  • Prevent infectious diseases from spreading

• We will share information with NHS Digital, the Care Quality Commission and the local health protection team (or Public Health England) when the law requires us to do so.

• Call recordings may be shared internally within the practice. This includes team members, managers and GPs. They will only have access if the data is necessary for the performance of their roles.
• We may share call recordings with NHS England or Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Integrated Care Services (ICS) in order to respond to complaints made about the practice.

How long we keep your call recording

• General call recordings will be retained for up to 36 months from the date of creation.
• Call recordings may be linked to your patient record at the end of the call. Where this is the case, the recording will form an integral part of your NHS medical record and will therefore be stored as a permanent record.
• The above retention periods are in line with the Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care 2016.

Can I request a copy of my call record?

• Call recordings may have been destroyed in accordance with the practice retention schedule. If the recording is still available, you can request a copy of your conversation by contacting Milton Surgery.  This information will be provided to you in accordance with the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998.
• We are required by law to provide you with the following information about how we handle your information and our legal obligations to share data.

We are required by law to provide you with the following information about how we handle your information: